Building AI Before It Was Cool: How Bad Data Quality Sparked a Revolution

Kathy Cheng started as a focus group translator in Shanghai, moved to Canada, couldn't get hired as a moderator, and reluctantly switched to quantitative research—which she hated. Her frustration with "bad data quality" led her to launch Nex Intelligence nine years ago, building conversational AI for surveys before ChatGPT existed.

When generative AI exploded, Kathy was perfectly positioned. But unlike most AI companies, she refuses to say Inca "scales qualitative research." Instead, she's focused on making quantitative data more engaging and reliable through conversation.

Thanks again to Kathy Cheng for being our guest. You can connect with her on LinkedIn